Main and McAdam

May 13, 2016

Fireworks/Essemtials (Main Street).

Used Cars (Main Street).

I rarely talk about equipment on this site but due to the relative shortness of today’s post, it seems as good a time as ever.

I’ve been shooting with a new camera body as of late—a Sony A7ii. Without boring you with details, it’s a full-frame mirrorless system, giving it several advantages over my previous camera body (a Pentax K3). My favorite feature—the one that made me bite the bullet and pick one up—is that practically any lens, from any era and any manufacturer, can be easily adapted to fit the camera. All of a sudden I’ve got a world of lenses at my disposal.

Despite their excellent optics, vintage lenses for older film cameras can be had for cheap. Today’s photos, for instance, were taken with a Vivitar 135mm f2.8 lens—a lens I picked up for around $30, and whose modern-day equivalent would have cost at least $500. Although not as crisp as modern-day lenses, the character and charm of these vintage lenses has completely won me over.